FrontRunners: Minute Made

Blancpain took a first step toward updating its inventory of complicated movements with the March release of the Blancpain Carrousel Minute Repeater (www.blancpain.com). The watch’s restricted run of just 10 pieces will be followed by several more limited releases leading up to the company’s new grand complication. The carrousel system, which Blancpain built two years ago, marked the company’s first new minute-repeater mechanism since 1993. The device employs a silent regulation system and takes full advantage of the movement’s large size to produce a fine level of resonance and clarity. The striking, fully engraved design can be viewed through the $359,700 watch’s transparent case back.